Flares from a mini star - Poems by Charles Darnell

POEMS BY CHARLES DARNELL: Star Stuff, Quarter-Mile Post, When I Am Done

Last updated: October 19th, 2022

Star Stuff

I am he as you are he as you are me
And we are all together. – John Lennon

The Sun is third-generation,
young by time.
Made from the spirit
of previous suns
back to the beginning boom.

The miasma of hot gas
bears the mix,
elixir of matter,
of life,
and of promise.

Sweet dreams and human beings
are made of this,
our atoms the reincarnation
of stars.
We are all the children of light
and carry the universe in our
hands.

Quarter-Mile Post

The bones have stopped cracking
this far into it.
Passed the familiar post,
shining in the mid-morn sun.

Birds, no longer startled
by plodding feet,
flutter and hop
just enough.
Deer grazing
barely raise
their ears.

An old friend
I’ve become,
I give a smile and a wave,
a prelude to
more serious stuff.

I lean into it now,
press on for a couple,
make the turn,
back the way I’ve come
and see myself
again at the quarter-mile post,
a weary body,
a brand new soul.

When I Am Done

When I am done
And the backs turn
For the slow walk away,
I shall have time
In my dark gloom
To think upon
All that has passed,
All that remains undone.
There is always that “still undone.”

There will be time
To reflect on the “should haves”
And the “if onlys”
After my juice is poured
Back into the river of life,
After I’ve become a dried husk,
A rotting prune.

Yet this storm of silence
Is prelude,
Not finis.
In some other form,
Perhaps a wisp
Or winged beast,
Perhaps an intrepid child,
I shall be the wiser then
Though not know from where
such wisdom came.

«RELATED READ» POEMS BY JULIA HONES: Search, Today, Life and Death»

[su_panel background=”#f2f2f2″ color=”#000000″ border=”0px none #ffffff” shadow=”0px 0px 0px #ffffff”]Charles Darnell is a member of the Sun Poets Society in San Antonio, Texas. His work has appeared in many journals,magazines and anthologies in traditional print and online. His poetry blog, Speaking in Colors, can be found at charlesdarnell.blogspot.com.

image: NASA (Creative Commons BY)
  1. LIKE,
    Your facility of language feels as if you’ve been in the saddle quite awhile…knowing what to say and what not to say. I especially loved your jogging poem, all the details just right to really give a vicarious experience (I can’t jog any more because of a back injury)…and with that great kicker at the end!

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *